The challenges facing America’s conservative religious believers aren’t just political. Perhaps our most fundamental problem is the revival of philosophical materialismthe view that matter is all there is.

For a long time I was puzzled by the popularity of materialism, the view that we’re nothing more than biological machines programmed to propagate our DNA. After a while, though, I realized that a message of no soul and no freedom can seem like good news, for it means no consequences and no responsibility.

Materialism ministers to a secular dream: money, power, and pleasure with no strings attached. That’s not just a dreamit’s a fantasy, and a very harmful one.

The materialist worldview gets reinforced by academic culture: Stephen Pinker, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Greenblatt, and others. That why First Things is such an important voice. The depth and intelligence of what we publish challenges the secular conceit that God, truth, freedom, and the soul are fusty old myths that smart, educated people have left behind.

Please contribute today, and help us show our fellow citizens that millions of smart, educated people reject the materialist fantasy.